Bondi Badlands
Bondi Badlands
Bondi Badlands, a podcast from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, investigates a series of murders and mysterious disappearances of gay men that happened on the southern headland at Sydney's Bondi Beach in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When a high profile TV newsreader and weatherman disappeared on the Bondi cliff tops on a frigid winter's night in July 1989, it received nationwide news co…Follow the podcast:
The High Cost of Hate
After Peter Rolfe's former partner and close friend, Stephen Dempsey, was murdered by the so-called "crossbow killer", Richard Leonard, in 1994, Rolfe not only had to deal with the loss of a loved one in gruesome circumstances, but a harrowing trial in which Leonard smirked at him and smiled insole…
42:44Explicit
Fighting for the Truth
Guilty! I’m guilty! Guilty!” declared Scott White -- the alleged killer of American mathematician Scott Johnson -- to the court during a pre-trial hearing in early January 2022. It was an astonishing moment for Scott Johnson's older brother Steve, who was not only face-to-face with White for the fi…
43:26Explicit
The Scott Johnson Story
When the naked, crumpled body of gifted American mathematician Scott Johnson was found by two fishermen at the base of the soaring cliffs at Sydney's North Head in December 1988, police instantly dismissed the death as a suicide – a theory they doggedly held for nearly 30 years. Scott's older broth…
41:18Explicit
Coming soon: Bondi Badlands season two
Plenty has happened since the first season of Bondi Badlands. Two men have been sent to prison – one for the manslaughter of gifted mathematician Scott Johnson at the cliffs at Sydney's North Head in December 1988, another for the murder of Raymond Keam in Alison Park in Randwick in January 1987. …
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Out now: The Confession
Premiering on November 4, the astonishing true story of how Melbourne homicide detectives broke all the rules in their quest to have Katia Pyliotis convicted for brutally murdering a dirty old man with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The Confession is a podcast where the justice system itself is on t…
02:45
Coming Soon - Liar, Liar: Melissa Caddick and the Missing Millions
Since late 2020, the case of missing Sydney woman Melissa Caddick has captivated the country. A seemingly successful businesswoman from Sydney's eastern suburbs went missing after authorities raided her Dover Heights home amid questions over an unlicensed financial planning business. Sydney Morning…
01:48
Justice At Last
As a long line of persons-of-interest pass through the Coroners Court, Deputy State Coroner Jacqueline Milledge and Detective Sergeant Steve Page are in no doubt some of these men know the killers of Ross Warren and John Russell, if they aren't themselves the murderers. But was the anti-gay violenc…
38:27
Thrill Killers
As Detective Sergeant Steve Page closes in on a group of suspects in the likely murders of Ross Warren and John Russell, a new witness comes forward, one who narrowly escaped being thrown off the Bondi cliffs on a hot summer's night in December 1989. In a walk around the headland with the detective…
34:20Explicit
Blood City
The savage killing on the Bondi clifftops of a Thai man, Kritchikorn Rattanajurathaporn, in July 1990 results in murder convictions for three young men. But as the spree of anti-gay violence and murder escalates across Sydney, the LGBTQ community starts to fight back: from staging a mass demonstrat…
29:30
Murder of a Barman
Barman John Russell has just inherited $100,000 and is about to leave Bondi to build a house on his dad's property and travel Australia. But after farewell drinks with his best mate, Russell goes for a cliffside walk, where the 31-year-old gay man is set upon by his killers and hurled to his death.
28:10Explicit